Celebrating 500 Members

Last week, 3i surpassed 500 members. 

We started the investment network three years ago. It was in the midst of the pandemic. People were craving connection and eager to take advantage of new opportunities. 

The concept for 3i Members was first conceived by Mark Gerson, who founded the expert network GLG, and Billy Libby, who built Upper90 into an early-stage investing powerhouse from an informal club of tech founders and quants. 

My first meeting with Mark Gerson was at his regular spot in New York, Club Macanudo. At the time, I was shopping my own half-baked pitch for a tech platform for alternative investing.

Mark took one look at my app concept and characteristically steered the conversation to a much more productive place.

“It’s not a tech platform – it’s a human network. Investing is random. But, if we can build the systems, incentives, and infrastructure to enable idea sharing between investors, we can unlock crowd-sourced knowledge to make us all smarter investors.” 

I was sold. So that week, I started with Mark, Billy, and Josh Gordon – who at the time ran Mark’s venture studio – to build the foundation of our network. 

In three years, the network has grown organically to 500 members, driven entirely by word of mouth. As with all things in life, there have been a fist full of wins and a basket full of lessons. 

As I reflect on our first three years, here are the big ideas that were critical to our success: 

IDENTIFYING  A CLEAR GOAL: 

Build a community around investing. 

OFFERING SOMETHING DIFFERENT: 

We didn’t charge management or performance fees like other investment firms, removing a major conflict of interest. 

EMPHASIZING COMMUNITY: 

We set up consistent events anchored by a monthly deal meeting on Zoom and complemented by in-person dinners and online seminars and workshops. 

BENEFITTING FROM CHAMPIONS: 

We benefited from super connectors who joined early and became advocates. Mark Gerson set the example in New York. He was joined later by Eric Rosen in South Florida, Greg Waldorf in San Francisco and Jeff Aeder in Chicago. 

LEVERAGING EXPERTISE:

We tapped into the expertise of our membership to crowdsource private investments and apply the collective knowledge to evaluate deals. 

REALIZING PURCHASE POWER: 

The terms for investing in a private deal are more favorable to institutions than individuals. By pooling a number of individuals together, we act like an institution. 

AVOIDING CONFLICTS: 

From the beginning, we created a rule that members could not pitch their own products, funds, companies or deals.

When I first sat down with Mark Gerson at Club Mac, we both expected we’d get to 500 members because we believed in the benefits of the “network effect.” 

We just never imagined it would happen so fast.